The Star: May 04, 2017

The Star Latest Christchurch news at www. .kiwi
Thursday May 4 2017 29
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In Brief
BASKETBALLERS NAMED
Two Canterbury players have
been named in the New Zealand
under-16 basketball team to
play at the Australia Junior
Championships. They are
Samuel Jenkins (St Andrew’s
College) and Okirano Tilaia
(Cashmere High School). The
New Zealand team will go into
a three-day camp later this
month before heading to across
the Tasman for the tournament
which will be played from June
8-15.
POWER ON: Matt Summerfield has driven his way into second in the NZRC following his win in Whangerei.
PHOTO: GEOFF RIDDER ​
Summerfield set for home rally
• By Gordon Findlater
MATT Summerfield will go
into next month’s Canterbury
Rally in the hunt for the New
Zealand Rally Championship
after a spirited drive in
Whangarei.
Summerfield and sister
Nicole (co-driver) now find
themselves second in the
championship after they
stormed to victory in the NZRC
at the International Rally of
Whangarei.
The result comes after he
suffered gearbox failure just
three kilometres into the
opening stage at the opening
round of the championship in
Otago last month.
“I’m ecstatic. We need to build
on it from here but it’s a good
feeling going into Canterbury, it
feels like we’re back in the fight,”
said Summerfield.
Saturday saw Summerfield
put in a calculated drive. He
finished within the top four
on each stage, recording just a
single stage victory on the power
stage to capture an extra five
championship points.
The drive meant he held an
overnight lead of 29.3sec over
Dylan Turner in his Audi S1
AP4.
Not everything went to plan
for the Summerfield team,
with an exhaust manifold
requiring replacement in Sunday
morning’s 15min service.
The job took the team 20min
resulting in a 50sec penalty,
which saw Turner take the l
ead.
However, blistering pace from
Summerfield saw him win three
of the day’s six stages, eventually
cruising to victory 1min 6.4sec
ahead of Turner.
“It sucked to drop 50sec in
penalties but we would have lost
minutes if we didn’t do it,” said
Summerfield.
Summerfield is more than
overdue for a positive result at
his home event on June 4.
He won the Canterbury Rally
in 2012 but has had no luck
since, failing to finish in his
last four attempts. He crashed
in 2013, blew an engine in
2014, crashed in 2015 and blew
another engine in 2016.
“Everyone said last year
that is was done because bad
things come in threes. I’m well
overdue,” he said.
NZRC standings:
Graham Featherstone 51pts,
1; Matt Summerfield 49pts, 2;
Dylan Turner 47pts, 3; Rhys
Gardner 46pts, 4; David Holder
41pts, 5; Andrew Hawkeswood
40pts, 6.
League boys come good in rugby
• By Gordon Findlater
A GROUP of league boys
playing union are looking to
prove they can be the surprise
team in the UC Championship.
The St Thomas of Canterbury
College first XV started the Crusaders
region secondary school
competition with an emphatic
64-5 win over Burnside High
School. The interesting thing
about the team is if you asked a
large chunk of them which sport
they play the answer would be
‘rugby league’.
Zinzan Martin and Patrick
Elia both scored hat-tricks for
St Thomas’ on Saturday. The
previous weekend both attended
a South Island rugby league
camp.
More than a half a dozen
of the St Thomas’ team have
played representative rugby
league for Canterbury or the
South Island.
St Thomas’ have also followed
the trend of bringing in a recognised
name in the coaching
department, former Canterbury
and Crusaders flanker Johnny
Leo’o.
On Saturday, they take on
last year’s round-robin winners
Christ’s College. The match will
act as a great gauge for what the
team is capable of.
“I don’t think we’d call it an
upset if we get the win. It’s not
daunting for us going to Christ’s,
we’ve got a lot of talent,’’ defence
coach Hamish Barclay said.
The league connection at St
Thomas’ isn’t just restricted to
its players. Canterbury Bulls and
Linwood Keas coach Andrew
Auimatagi is a teacher at the
school.
“We want your league boys to
have the best opportunity they
can and playing first XV rugby
seems to be the pinnacle in
Canterbury,” said Auimatagi.
The school may also have of
the most exciting players in
the competition in the form of
17-year-old centre Jordan Riki.
The former Christchurch Boys’
High School student was named
the under-16 player of the year at
the New Zealand Rugby League
awards in January and is part
of the Brisbane Broncos youth
system.
St Thomas’ may have been
easy beats in the past, but if their
core group of talented league
TALENTED:
Hornby Panthers
junior Zinzan
Martin scored
a hat-trick for
St Thomas’ on
Saturday.
PHOTO: MARTIN
HUNTER
players can adapt their games
to the different code expect
more than a few upsets this
season.
Saturday Fixtures (home
team first) –
Shirley BHS v Timaru BHS,
Burnside HS v Christchurch
BHS, Lincoln Combined v
Nelson College, Roncalli College
v St Andrew’s College, St Bede’s
College v Marlborough BC,
Christ’s College v St Thomas,
Rangiora HS v Waimea Combined.
LEADERS TO CLASH
Coastal Spirit and Ferrymead
Bays will meet in a top-of-thetable
clash in the Mainland
Premier League at Cuthberts
Green on Saturday. Bays lead the
competition after eight rounds
and are on 21 points, three
ahead of Cashmere Technical
and four ahead of Coastal. The
two teams previously met on
March 25, with Bays defeating
Coastal 1-0 at Ferrymead Park.
TIGERS PLAYERS FOR TEST
Papanui Tigers duo Bunty
Kuruwaka-Crowe and Corrina
Whiley will make their Kiwi
Ferns debuts in tomorrow’s
Anzac test against Australia
in Canberra. Canterbury
women’s team coach Michael
Linton will also be involved
as the assistant coach of the
Kiwi Ferns. Kuruwaka-Crowe
and Whiley are believed to
be the first Canterbury-based
Kiwi Ferns reps since another
Papanui product, Alisha Moses,
who earned her first call-up as
a teenager for the 2008 World
Cup.
DEFENDER HOPEFUL
Coastal Spirit defender
Shaun Liddicoat is the only
Christchurch-based player
named in the 30-man New
Zealand squad ahead of the
Under-20 Football World Cup
in Korea later this month.
The University of Canterbury
engineering student is currently
in camp with the team in
Auckland with the hope of
making the final 21-man squad
for the tournament, which
is named on Monday. New
Zealand will play Vietnam,
Honduras and France in their
pool.
KART OPPORTUNITY
Eleven-year-old Jacob Douglas
will head to Italy in October to
take on the world’s best young
kart drivers, representing New
Zealand at the International
ROK Cup Finals. The Medbury
School student booked his spot
after winning the Vortex Mini
ROK title at the KartSport New
Zealand National Sprint Championships
in Invercargill last
month. In Italy he will drive for
the OTK kart group whose previous
drivers include seven-time
formula one world champion
Michael Schumacher.